


Origins

by DeweyGreat



Series: Dragon Song [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Reworking Backstories, Reworking Magic, a few OCs - Freeform, why is this so long help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-02-01 05:36:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12698433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeweyGreat/pseuds/DeweyGreat
Summary: The mysterious origin of Zeref, Mavis, and the dragon slayers. In the Dragon King war, the blood of humans, demons, and dragons stain the earth and seven children are about to change the fate of the world. (Basically, Acnologia's backstory).





	1. Song

**This is scene is set on Tenrou Island before the Seven Years Arc!**

\- - - - -

As Zeref witnessed the destruction that was being caused by Acnologia on Tenrou Island, he merely looked down and spoke into the wind, "It seems like another long journey is about to begin."

He focused on a familiar figure that was rushing into the fray. "This era of ignorance is over. See you soon, Natsu."

With the sound of the Fairy Tail guild master laughing, Zeref turned away from the battle and looked at the roots of the gigantic tree in the middle of the island. He locked eyes with Mavis and she gave him a patient smile.

She returned her gaze to the battle before closing her eyes and bringing her clasped hands to her mouth, as if she was praying

But he knew that she was making a wish.

When bright blue light surrounds the island and Mavis, cutting off his view of her, he can hear the faint sound of Mavis's singing and Acnologia's roar intertwine.

He knows that the dragon slayers hear it too.

\- - - - -

**I hope that this was okay! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Fate

_… about 400 years earlier …_

The day’s sun was shining harshly on the people of Irdun. Nearly the whole town flocked to the Yang River, either swimming, fishing, or cooling themselves off.

Yet Zeref Dragneel would rather spend his days out on a grassy hill reading a book he's read nearly a thousand times over. His coat lays in a heap under his head as he holds the crinkly old book in the sky, reading the words and occasionally wiping sweat off of his hands. Zeref sighs and rolls over onto to stomach. His neck cricks and he rubs his sore wrists. Sighing in contentment, Zeref closes the book and shuts his eyes, the heat lulling him to sleep.

* * *

“Zeref, wake up!” Zeref groans when he feels someone shaking him, “Zeref! Granny Emmy’s looking for you! Says she wants you to return some books or something!”

He cracks his eyes open to see his little brother partially obstructing his view of the amber sky. “Natsu…” he murmurs, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

_Granny Emmy?_

He sits up fast, feeling the world spin. “Wha—why didn’t you tell me sooner, Natsu!” Zeref trips on the grass and nearly falls on his face, “She’ll kill us if those books are late!”

“Us?” Natsu exclaims, running after Zeref, “You're the only one that reads in this town! Its why the library’s so dusty!”

Zeref, too busy panicking, said, “Or worse, she’ll ban me from the library!”

* * *

To Natsu, Granny Emmy was not scary. She gives him food and is nice to him, but maybe that’s because he doesn't return books damaged—not that he checks out books. One time Zeref nearly murdered Natsu for dropping a book in a puddle and in turn Zeref was nearly murdered by Granny Emmy.

(Zeref hated calling her Granny Emmy and always tried to call her by her real name—Emma.)

When Natsu had first called her Granny Emmy, she had teared up and hugged him in the middle of putting away books. She had gushed at him and promised that if he ever needed anything to come to her. Natsu liked Emma because she looked out for him and Zeref. She was the only other person they were close to besides each other. More often than naught, Zeref looked after Natsu and Natsu looked after Zeref. That's the way it had been since their parents had died in a dragon attack.  
  
Natsu didn't really remember them, just a vague image of what they looked like. But Zeref had been older and had shut himself away. He would sneak away at night and come back sweaty and covered in dirt. Natsu never asked where he went or where he would go at night, whatever he was doing was helping him—the bags disappeared from under his eyes and he was eating more.

(Although, his eyes would vaguely glint red every now and then.)  
  
Then, one day, Zeref stopped going out and shutting Natsu out. Whatever he had been doing, helped Zeref get over their loss. But Natsu had been lost during the times Zeref snuck out, with no one to fully explain to him what death was and what exactly happened to their parents.

So he turned to Granny Emmy, the local librarian who always knew what book Natsu wanted to drown in. (She also helped him with his loss—helped him understand when his brother was off doing who knows what.)  
  
After Natsu understood that dragons were responsible for the sudden collapse of his family, he would tremble at all the sounds in the forest and would run to his brother at the sound of fluttering wings.  Whenever Natsu had nightmares, Zeref would always comfort him. Ever since then, Natsu feared dragons. Emma understood since her family had also been killed in a dragon attack.  
  
Zeref would often come to the library to read books and Emma would read books to Natsu since the library was nearly vacant most of the time. Natsu didn't like to read since the words gave him a headache but when Emma read to Natsu, he would close his eyes and he could envision what was happening in his head.

When Natsu and Zeref enter the library, they aren't surprised to see Emma giving them the 'do you think you won't get beat because you will if any of my precious books are not in tip top shape' look. Natsu runs up to her with no fear while his brother reluctantly gives her the book he checked out a week ago. She scrutinizes the books cover as black strands of hair fall out of her messy bun. Emma presses her glasses to the bridge her nose, humming and looking through the pages. She suddenly stops her search for any damage and looks up at Zeref, her blue eyes steely, "Don't be late next time.”

Zeref smiles nervously, “I won't.”

Emma turns away from Zeref, sighing, “You've said that every time you turn a book in late,” she steps out from behind the counter and stands in front of them, hands on her hips, “yet it happens all the time. Soon, I'll have to start charging you, Zeref Dragneel.”

Natsu snickers before hugging Emma around her legs. Emma smiles down at Natsu and pats his head. She smirks at Zeref and tells him teasingly, “You know the only reason why I let you get away with all of this is because your brother wants me to read to him. And without you, who would take him to the library?”

“Emma—” Zeref began before she cut in, “Emmy is fine.”

Sighing, Zeref tells her, “ _Emmy,_ if you really want some company in this dusty library you could just pick him up yourself.”

“Can't.” Emma supplies, “Too busy.”

“With what?” Zeref says incredulously, “Dusting the library?” He walks over to a shelf and slides his finger across the shelf, raising it up to show them his dusty finger.

Zeref smiles smugly back at Emma, “We both know that the only thing you do in this library is read in it.”

Natsu looks at Zeref, confused, “Isn't that what you’re supposed to do?”

Both Zeref and Emma look at Natsu, a bit surprised at his innocent answer.

Emma pats Natsu’s head and tells him sweetly, “Why, yes. _That's what the library is for after all.”_ She pointedly looks at Zeref. Zeref huffs and goes over to the shelf nearest to him, “Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to do just that.”

* * *

Natsu ran along the river bank and watched the world pass by. Gasping for breath, happily stretching out his arms and catching the bit of sun that flowed through the trees on his skin. Natsu loved the sun and everything bright.

Everything but fire.

(Fire had taken everything away from him—everyone but _Zeref_.)

Natsu ran and ran all the way to the town orphanage where his friends were. He skidded on the gravel, looking for Wendy. He wanted to talk to her about the new book Emma had read to him. Wendy was the only one actually interested in what he had to say about it.

He found Wendy near a bed of flowers, pouring water where the stems met the dirt. “Wendy!” Natsu called out and waved. Wendy turned around with a surprised smile and ran over to Natsu.

“Natsu!” She yelled back, hugging him before asking, “How was your day?”

(That’s one of the reasons why he liked Wendy. She actually listened to the things Natsu said that other people would have deemed insignificant.)

“Well,” he began as they walked over to the grass, “Zeref got scolded by Granny Emmy for turning in a book late. Oh, and I caught this big fish at the river—” Natsu continued on and on about his day until he asked mid-sentence how her day had been.

She immediately frowned, thinking about the days earlier events.

* * *

_Wendy didn’t really know how it started—she never really knew why they fought so much anyway—but all of a sudden Sting charged right at Gajeel and punched him in the face. Gajeel had been surprised and instantly retaliated. She had jumped up, tears in her eyes, trying to get them to stop without getting involved in the middle. Rogue came out of nowhere and was pulling Sting back, shouting, “Sting! Sting! Stop it!”_

_Sting stopped struggling but pulled away from Rogue, giving Gajeel a nasty look before storming off. Wendy was breathing heavily from shouting. Gajeel tisked and walked away, rubbing his face. Rogue looked between them like he didn’t know where to go before running after Sting._

* * *

Wendy sighed, looking miserable, “I can never stop them.”

Natsu looks closer at Wendy, almost like he can figure out what the problem is by the way her eyebrows scrunch up in worry. Natsu claps her on the back, “Don’t worry, Wendy! I’m sure everything’s fine.”

Wendy smiles up at Natsu, thankful that he listens to her troubles, “Alright.” She turns the topic to flowers and Natsu helps her plan out her future garden.

* * *

Zeref is reading a book about celestial magic when he hears a crash and someone yelp. He runs to the source of the sound, thinking that Emma was in trouble. He went around a shelf to see that a bookshelf and all of its books had fallen over. “Emma!” he called out.  

To his surprise, when he lifted the bookcase up it wasn’t Emma who was buried in an avalanche of books. He helped the stranger get out and stand. She brushed off her dress, her blond hair hiding her embarrassment.

“What happened?” Zeref asked her as he bent down to pick up books, “What’s your name?”

Almost as if realizing something, she bent to pick up books with him. She put them on a table as she told him shyly, “Mavis--my name is Mavis. I was just trying to get a book.”

Smiling, Zeref told her, “You could’ve just asked the librarian.”

She looked at him, almost surprised, “There’s a librarian?”

He chuckled. Emma never helped anyone since she and Zeref were the only ones that came to the library--that and Zeref knew the library like the back of his hand, “Yes, although she’s probably pretending to be busy.”

They spend the rest of the time picking up the rest of the books when Zeref asked, “What book were you looking for?”

Mavis looks at the stacks of books, trying to find the one she was looking for. “Oh, here it is!” she exclaimed as she pulled it from the stack. The stack wobbled and nearly fell over but Zeref steadied it. Mavis thanked him with a sheepish smile.

Zeref looked over at the book. “Dragons, huh?” he asked, already thinking about all the books in the library that had to do with dragons.

“Yeah,” she answered shyly, nervously flicking her eyes from the floor to the cover of the book.

Zeref stepped closer and looked at the title. _The Origin of Dragons and Their Magic._

Zeref hummed. _That wasn’t a bad read, but…_

“If you want to start at the basics of dragon magic or elemental magic, the shelf next to it would be better.” Zeref tells her before smiling lightheartedly, “Emma has arranged the library to… her standards, so the books are arranged by subject instead of alphabetically.”

“Although,” Zeref starts teasingly, “If you want a book, just ask for me or Emma. I’m sure she’ll point you in the right direction.”

Mavis smiled up at while hugging the book to her chest, “Thanks for telling me, I’ll make sure to ask next time for a book.”

Zeref spent most of the time in the library with Mavis while cleaning up her clumsy messes, chuckling each time she apologized.

* * *

Mavis wouldn’t necessarily say that today was a bad day. She had looked all over the town for an inn she could stay at, but she had gotten lost no matter how many times she was directed in the right direction. Eventually, she found the inn when the sun was nearly done setting.

When she got to her room, she ran and flopped onto the bed. Sighing, she rolled over and rubbed her eyes, remembering her day.

She had gone to the library to see what humans knew of dragons so far. She remembers when dragons and humans used to live in peace until a rogue dragon decided that humans were just cattle fodder, but that had been a long, long time ago…

So far, she read that dragons used Draconic Arts--a type of magic that a dragon could only wield due to their massive magic cores. That’s about the only thing they got right beside humans turning into dragons if they used the Draconic Arts. They spun ridiculous theories that dragons were just beasts that slowly grew to intelligence over the years! If only they knew how closely related dragons and humans were.

Blushing, she remembers making a _whole_ bookshelf fall in trying to get a book. She had thought Zeref was kind enough but she was truly grateful that he offered to help her find books. Some of the books had been in languages she didn’t understand and Zeref had told her he would help her translate it. They were already planning to meet up again soon.

Everything had been alright until she asked about his family. He eagerly talked about his brother Natsu and how the librarian had practically raised him. She should have known better than to ask.

_“What about your parents?”_

_Zeref stilled, his back facing her, and said, “They’re dead.”_

She buried herself further into the blankets and she shivered, remembering the chill that had gone over her at his words. It was like the air had thickened and for a moment she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

For a moment, she thought she felt dark magic.

But why would Zeref have it? How would he even learn it?

Troubled, Mavis closes her eyes and lets her tiredness overtake her.

* * *

**Yo, thanks for reading! This story is going to take forever, help...**


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